Isaiah 6:1-3 – In need of a fresh encounter with the LORD

Right from the start in chapters 1 to 5 of Isaiah, all we saw was a picture of gloom and doom. We saw an obstinate unconcerned people refusing the overarching love of God with His loving arm of grace extending affably toward them. But His kindness was scoffed by a people who did not seem to be bothered with this marvelously wonderful God. We saw in Isaiah 2:5 how through the prophet He coaxed the people saying “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” But they would not listen. So the conclusion was described in the last part of Isaiah 5:30. It reads, “If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; Even the light is darkened by its clouds.”  

When we come to chapter 6, we catch a glimpse of God’s kindness and His transforming grace in the encounter that the Prophet Isaiah had with the LORD. This marvelous God was still extending His kind gesture of grace to a people who didn’t deserve His kindness. He chose to start it with Isaiah. This is the tenacious love of God who would not let go despite being snubbed. It all happened in the year that King Uzziah died. Remember Uzziah was Isaiah’s cousin. According to 2 Chronicles 26, Uzziah’s reign started when he was 16 years old and he ruled Judah for 52 years. Second Chronicles 26:4-5 tell us that  “He did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He continued to seek God … and as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him.” Unfortunately in his prosperity, he became proud. He tried to stand in the office of a priest to burn incense to the Lord. When confronted by the priests for the abuse of the priestly office, instead of being repentant he was angry with the priests and was filled with rage. God had to smite him with leprosy. Uzziah was a leper till the day he died.  

 

It was in the year that King Uzziah died that Isaiah had an encounter with the LORD. Perhaps in the years leading up to the encounter, the prophet was leaning on his cousin and enjoying the prosperity. When people are doing well there is a risk of pivoting trust to the reigning monarch and the wealth that he generated rather than God. Hence, it was not until the king, who seemed to have brought the prosperity, had died that Isaiah had the vision of the LORD, the eternal King.

 

The moment of Isaiah’s encounter with the LORD took place in the temple where he was worshipping. For a long time now his sight was set on Uzziah. Now at the death of his cousin king Uzziah, for the first time after a long time, his eye was lifted to see the vision of the LORD, the eternal King. The fact remains that earthly rulers may come and go, but this LORD, the eternal King remains on the throne forever. So Isaiah encountered Him that day. This eternal king was “sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.” It is hard to imagine the loftiness of the Sovereign’s majestic grandiose. Surrounding the throne were seraphim. We are not told how many there were, but in John’s vision in Revelations, we are told that there were myriads upon myriads of them. Each was said to have “…six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.” Their faces were covered, very likely,  because there were in such great awe of the holy and perfect God that they could not look at Him straight in the face. But it must be said that they were in readiness to do His will.

 

As the seraphim flew waiting to do God’s bidding, they were constantly crying out to each other saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” The seraphim were seen here unraveled by the holiness and all-embracing glory of God. The cries of holy were not mere repetitions. They were words of wonder and awe in acknowledgment of an awesome and perfect God.    

 

Beloved, the God we worship and honor is beyond description and comprehension. His infinite wisdom is too lofty for our finite mind to grasp. We are lost as to why such a great God should love us so much. All we need to know is that in His greatness, He chose to reveal Himself to us so that we can get a glimpse of the greatness of His heart. The only appropriate response to this awesome God then is to give ourselves wholly and unreservedly to Him. We must learn to take our eye and our trust off the things of this world and set our affection wholeheartedly on Him and trust Him, and like the seraphim ever ready to do His will and bidding. He is worthy of it all!       

Isaiah 5:24-30 – The danger of not responding to God’s grace

No one who rejects the grace of God and His dealings gets away scot-free. So here in six verses, Isaiah speaks of the consequences that would come upon Israel for her stubborn resistance to God’s grace. The crux of the problem was their rejection of the law of the LORD of hosts. They have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Everything about them was wrong. They were God’s delight, but the opposite was not true, God was not their delight. They had spurned His love and kind gestures. So judgment looms large. These verses show how God’s judgment would look like.

The Lord’s vineyard which was described at the start of the chapter would now be consumed by fire and burnt like stubble. They would become like dry highly flammable stubbles that could catch fire easily as the LORD unleashed His anger upon them. Nothing would be spared. The mountains would tremble and shake by the blows of God and corpses would be strewn all over the land like rubbish on the street. Despite God’s heavy dealing, they would not yield to Him. Their obstinacy would cause the judgment to be sustained and prolonged.

Verse 26 indicates that the judgment would come from a distant nation. This invading army would come at the whistle of God indicating that they would be God’s instrument to deal with His people. Without saying directly, Isaiah shows that nations were under the sovereign control of God. They were at God’s disposal to use to deal with His people. Down through history, we have seen how God had used different nations to deal with His people. In verses 27-29, Isaiah described the unnamed army as ready, well-equipped, alert, and would come and overrun God’s people swiftly. There would be none to deliver them from the coming judgment. No matter where they would look to, there would be none that could come to their rescue.

Here is the lesson. Hebrews 11:29 tells us that God is a consuming fire. Hence, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of God. None of us should dismiss God’s seriousness about dealing with sin in our life just because He is gracious and merciful. While He is loving and gracious and wants to bless us, He would not allow sin to destroy our lives. If we resist His dealings and persist in our sin, judgment will fall. It will be swift, and it can be prolonged, depending on how we would respond to His dealing. The best way to live a blessed life is to listen attentively to God and diligently obey Him. It is needful for us to keep short accounts with Him by dealing with our shortcomings swiftly. Learn to stay near and dear to God.

Isaiah 5:18-23 – Understanding the deceitfulness of sin

As if holding up six bunches of rotten grapes in Isaiah 5:8-23, God showed six ways how His people had defied His grace. With each of them, He began by pronouncing a “woe.” We saw the first two in verses 8-17 where God denounced their insatiable greed and life of excesses. We all have seen how these two wrongful desires in life had sabotaged the grace of God in people’s life. Hence, we must be careful about how we conduct life.

Now in verses 18-23, Isaiah holds out the remaining four clusters of the rotten grapes with four more “woes.” What does “iniquity being drag by cords of falsehood and sin as if with cart ropes” in verse 18 mean? We have seen picture of a cart being harnessed to a horse and being drawn by it. Now picture sin like a cart being harnessed to a deceived person who is unconsciously drawing it along. This verse tells us that sin is deceitful. It promises more than it can deliver. Sin always seems to make promises of a more fulfilling life but alas, it disappoints and leaves one empty and dry. Sin always holds one longer than one is willing to stay and makes one pay more dearly than one is willing to pay. Here sin is seen deceitfully pulling the people deeper into defying the grace of God. It would not be until God’s judgment kicks in that people would begin to realize their sins. No wonder Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Let us not be deceived by sin with all its trimmings and glamour and be obliviously pulled into divine judgment. This is how Isaiah presented the third bunch of rotten grapes.   

 

The fourth bunch of rotten grapes that defy God’s grace is found in verse 20. Following the fact that sin is deceitful, this verse tells us that it also makes one incapable of making sound judgment. What is evil is reckoned to be good and vice versa. Darkness is taken for light and light darkness. Bitter is thought to be sweet and sweet bitter. Our fallen tendency seems to have the capacity to make us rationalize sin. Fallen people do have the capacity to give seemingly sound reasons to a sin that is downright wrong. Sin has the capacity to make us illogically logical. Here is a key lesson: Do not justify what is obviously wrong.  

 

In verse 21 we are presented with the fifth thing that can defy the grace of God in life. It is when we become self-conceited and live life with misplaced confidence. Oh, how needful it is for us to deliver ourselves from ourselves! Let us hear the advice from an ancient Persian proverb that says:

He who knows not, and knows not he knows not is a fool, shun him.

He who knows not, and knows he knows not is humble, teach him.

He who knows, and knows not he knows is asleep, wake him.

He who knows, and knows he knows is wise, follow him.

 

Finally, the sixth issue that can defy God’s grace is described in verses 22-23. Here Isaiah highlighted social injustice in Judah that defied the grace of God. The elites of society had no moral courage. They were great at drinking wine but weak at making sound judgment and standing up for the mistreated poor. Only when we embrace God wholeheartedly will we have the moral courage to take the side of those being wronged. There is a need for us to courageously stand up against wrong and bring justice to a situation that had been wrongly adjudicated.   

 

Sin is deceitful and has a way of tripping us up and leading us into the alley of heartaches and needless pains. Worst of all it makes us incapable of sound judgment,  offensive, and obnoxious to God. Like the hymn that advises us to take time to be holy, we need to take time to evaluate ourselves regularly and align our walk according to His Word. We do so to reflect God’s goodness and grace so that other lives could be impacted and be won to Him. Live for God and not for sin!

Isaiah 5:8-17 – Don’t let greed or dissipation repel God’s grace

What went wrong with the people whom God had showered so much grace? Weren’t they supposed to produce choice fruit? Sadly, they were producing wild, rancid rotten grapes instead. Verses 8-23 are descriptions of six clusters of rotten grapes held up by Isaiah, each starting with the pronouncement of a “woe.” They reflect six ways one can defy the grace of God. In this reflection from verses 8-17, we will consider two of them.  

The first woe was for the uncaring rich of the land. Driven by insatiable greed, they were acquiring land that belonged to their brothers. They were forcing the poor out of their land and impoverished them without any regard for their condition. While properties of the rich were getting more and larger, they were unwittingly becoming lonelier. What they acquired should yield more or so they thought, but instead, they were yielding less. Here is one thought: greed always averts the effect of grace. Though one who has much ought to have a sense of satisfaction, instead one had to contend with a sense of emptiness in life. Remember the words of Jesus in Mark 8:36 that say, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” Never allow greed to disincentivize meaningful living with God.

 

The second woe pronounced begins in verse 11. Here we see how God’s transforming grace could be short-circuited by one’s refusal to engage the mind. The people here were seen to rise early and run after strong drink and stayed late feeling the effect of the wine they had consumed. So engaged in entertaining themselves that they had a total disregard for the grace of God. The word “inflame” speaks of an aroused passion. Here we see people whose passion should be stirred up by their love for God but instead was stirred up by strong drink. In Ephesians 5:18, we are called not to be drunk with wine for that would be debauchery or dissipation. But rather be filled with the Spirit of God who will enable us to engage in pursuits that will honor God and place Him at the centre of our activities.  

 

Verses 13-17 point to the grave consequences that awaited the people of Judah for their insatiable greed and mindless debauchery. They would be exiled and the land they had amassed would be swallowed up. Sheol or hades, like a ravenous beast, would consume Jerusalem and all its beauty and grandiose. Foreigners would occupy the place they once possessed. In all that would take place, the people of Judah would be humbled as God would be exalted in His judgment.

 

God is holding out His wonderful grace and the possibility of enjoying all that it would bring to us. Do not allow anything to deprive us of that privilege. Hence, we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and let God’s grace work in us to bring about a beautiful transformation in our lives. Be careful not to allow greed or a life of excess to truncate God’s grace from working in us. Be engaged in spiritual exercises that will avail ourselves to God’s ever-flowing grace.  

Isaiah 5:1-7 – Don’t take God’s grace for granted

Isaiah 5 tells the story of God’s generous grace showered on His people and sadly how His people chose to spurn it. In the story, a generous man was seen cultivating a vineyard. He took great care to make sure that the vineyard was well constructed and made everything possible for it to flourish. Then in this vineyard, he planted the choicest vine. Since he had put in so much effort, he expected it to bear choice fruit to produce fine wine. So he confidently built a vat near the vineyard to house the wine. But to his chagrin, the vineyard produced wild, rotten, and rancid fruit, impossible to produce fine wine.

Of course, the one who had planted the vineyard was God. The vineyard here was the nation of Israel. God had brought about the nation of Israel and taken care to shower much grace on them. He expected to see the fruits of righteousness and justice but instead saw violent bloodshed and people crying out in great distress. With the amount of grace and patience God showered on it, Israel should have flourished but it did not. Why? What went wrong? In the rhetorical question in verse 4, God invited the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem to evaluate the matter and tell Him what had gone wrong. This seems to suggest that they were putting the blame on God. So He asked them, what more could He have done to see Israel producing the fruits that He expected to see?

 

There is a human tendency to find something to pin the blame on when we fail to live up to expectations. We blame our circumstances, our spouses, our bosses, our children, our subordinates, our education and etc, but not ourselves. It is time for us to be proactive people who would take responsibility for our actions in life regardless of the outcome. Let us stop blaming and start owning up to our decisions and actions. To place blame for our flaws is to insinuate that God has not given us sufficient grace to deal with it. One way to be forward-looking is to start exploring ways to get to the next level with God, not to gripe, lament, and blame our failure on our seeming lack.   

 

Verses 5-6 is a grim reminder that while God is gracious, we cannot afford to take His grace for granted. The problem with Israel was her persistent obstinacy. So God had to deal with the people harshly. Soon all the protective hedge and generous supply of God would stop flowing their way. All their privileges would be removed. Privilege always comes with responsibility. We are free to enjoy our God-given privileges, but we are expected to live up to all the responsibilities that come with them. This is a lesson we must never forget.

 

A passage like this pushes us to take a hard look at our lives. Have we taken the grace of God for granted? Are we hiding behind our label as Christians but not doing our part to cultivate a God-pleasing life?  We must heed the instruction of God in 1 Timothy 4:7 to “…discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” Why? Paul tells us that it is profitable for all things and it holds promise for the present life, and also for the life to come. Never take the grace and patience of God for granted!

Isaiah 4:2-6 – Being God’s consecrated people

God’s judgment which Isaiah talked about was not to destroy Judah and Jerusalem totally but to purge and free them from what was offensive to Him. God chose them and made them His covenant people. They had a unique relationship with Him. And like a Father, He faithfully took care of them. When they were wayward, He would deal with them and purge the nation. When the dealing was done those who remain would be His faithful remnant. After God’s dealing, a time of blessings awaits the nation in the future. In Isaiah 4:2-6 we can see three promises made. 

Firstly, in verse 2, Isaiah points prophetically to the arrival of the Messiah who is referred to here as the “Branch of the Lord.” This Messiah would also have a human element. Hence. the verse also said He would be the “fruit of the earth.” However we are told that not everyone would welcome the Messiah, but He would be acknowledged and embraced by the remnant who survived God’s judgment.  

Secondly, we see in verses 3-4 that those who embrace the Messiah will be called holy. They will be the people who have been purged by the judgment and burning. There is a divine principle here. Holiness will be the outcome when one willingly submits to and allows God’s dealings to bring about the purging effect. God’s purging aims to make us His holy people. Remember that God will not remove hard circumstances from our lives, But He will perfect us through those hard times.

 

Thirdly, in verses 5-6, Isaiah makes a reference to a scene  from the book of Exodus, where God’s presence and glory were described as “cloud by day…and the brightness of a flaming fire by night.” Here the promise is that like God’s glory and presence that filled Moses’ Tabernacle, the same will be felt in the whole of Mount Zion. Prophetically here, Isaiah was pointing to the time in the future where God’s glory and presence will envelop the gathering of God’s people. This is a promise to the church of Jesus Christ the Messiah.

 

We see here the key to holiness is found in knowing the Messiah. We who have acknowledged Him are privileged people. As we submit to Him and allow God’s purging work to take effect in our lives, the outcome is a holy and set apart life consecrated to Him. There is no telling of His marvelous glory and presence when we, His consecrated people, are gathered in His name to offer Him resounding worship. What a glorious sight it would be! Praise the name of the Lord forever!     

Isaiah 3:16-4:1 – Connect with God and live modestly

No one in Judah and Jerusalem was spared God’s indictment. In these verses, God turned to condemn the women, the daughters of Zion for being haughty. How did they end up in this sad state of affairs? The reason clearly was their disconnect with the God whom they claimed to worship and serve. Verse 16 describes the way they walk. It was done deliberately to attract attention to themselves. They vainly wore anklets that would make noise to make aware of their presence. Those women strut around shamelessly and seductively, lacking modesty. Godly women should heed the words of God in 1 Peter 3:3-4 and display modesty. The instruction is: “Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.”

For their impropriety, God would judge and strip them of the pride of their lives. Instead of having a headful of beautiful hair, they would become bald exposing their scalp. God would deprive them of all the finery, and for fine clothes, they would be wearing mourning clothes instead. Furthermore, a foul smell would replace the fragrant perfume that they wore. The women would lose their men who would be slaughtered in war leaving them as destitute widows and mourning their loss.

Bereft of men, Isaiah 4:1 describes how women would be competing wantonly and desperately for the few remaining men. Fearing the reproach of being childless, women would even be willing to pay their own maintenance and take care of their own sustenance just to marry any man. What a sorry state of affair.

When there is a disconnect between a person and God, he or she becomes like those daughters of Zion, needing to adorn the outward to draw attention to self. When we stay connected to God, we learn to live a self-respecting life modestly. We need to note that modesty is not only something for women to consider but also something every man who loves God must factor in his life. Modesty is an outflow of humility that will act as a guard to our virtue. People who truly know Christ know who they are in Him. They accept themselves without the need of any peripheral stuff to help prop up their social status. They can accept their lot in life, rely on God, and learn to make the best of their lives. Their goal in life is to be like Christ and live for the glory of God. Let us live modestly for the glory of God.